A prominent historian and writer, Ahmed Shafeeq, passed away on Friday after battling a long illness.
Shafeeq was 87-years-old and leaves behind 12 children. He wrote numerous books, earned national literary awards, and had served as atoll chief and member of parliament.
In his last book titled ‘A day in the life of Ahmed Shafeeq,’ he alleged that 111 people had been killed during ex-president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30-year reign.
Gayoom successfully sued Shafeeq for defamation and the civil court in July 2012 ordered the writer to pay MVR5,000 as compensation.
Shafeeq was held in solitary confinement for 83 days in 1995 together with three other writers, including Hassan Ahmed Maniku, Ali Moosa Didi and Mohamed Latheef.
Shafeeq contended that 50 of his diaries containing evidence relating to the deaths of the 111 Maldivians were confiscated during a raid by 15 armed men. He was ultimately released by Gayoom without charge, and was told by the investigating officer to write a letter of appreciation to the then-president for the pardon.
After Gayoom declared that he will sue Shafeeq in late 2010, then-president Mohamed Nasheed said police will investigate the claims of 111 custodial deaths.
Nasheed had said that Gayoom alone could not be blamed for all the human rights abuses that occurred under his watch.
“It was not done by him alone. It was a whole system that did it. It was Dhivehi tradition that did it. It was Dhivehi culture that did it,” he said.
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Hello readers it seems our fearless leader Mister Nasheed has forgotten what he promised. I seem to recall him saying "if you sue SHAFEEG, you have to sue me.." where was he? Maumoons no angel and no is Nasheed the question seems to be which of these devils do you pick to lead the great "dhivehi system"?
I might add that old man SHAFEEG so dearly loved, defended and contributed so much to sustain! Sure these days and back in the days of Maumoon we have to find ways to patent our ideas in our minds as written works tend to go missing or unpublished.
Gayoom has been sick since he took up the helm of Maldives. What person in his right mind goes about sending a battalion fifteen armed men to peak in to 50 private diaries. Such a person must be capable of dissecting and picking on ones brain literally to peak into his very privately. Under Maumoon and Anni systems is man not allowed to think and express " freely?" And for that matter who goes around hooting loyalty in name of the champion of modern democracy? To me Anni is no lesser than a Hooties in Yemen. And Maumoon is a psychopath and a megalo-maniac
Who ever writes about old man SHAFEEG to belittle him is sadly mistaken. Old man Shafeeg's works will be read and will live on forever because they are full of wit, wisdom, intellectual and knowledgable.
Hello readers!
It seems our fearless leader Mister Nasheed has forgotten what he promised. I seem to recall him saying "if you sue SHAFEEG, you have to sue me.." where was he? Maumoons no angel and no is Nasheed the question seems to be which of these devils do you pick to lead the great "dhivehi system"?
I might add that old man SHAFEEG so dearly loved, defended and contributed so much to sustain! Sure these days and back in the days of Maumoon we have to find ways to patent our ideas in our minds as written works tend to go missing or unpublished.
Gayoom has been sick since he took up the helm of Maldives. What person in his right mind goes about sending a battalion fifteen armed men to peak in to 50 private diaries. Such a person must be capable of dissecting and picking on ones brain literally. For that matter who goes around hooting loyalty in name of the champion of modern democracy? To me Anni is no lesser than a Hooties in Yemen. And Maumoon is a psychopath and a megalo-maniac
Who ever writes about old man SHAFEEG to belittle him is sadly mistaken. Old man Shafeeg's works will be read and will live on forever because they are full of wit, wisdom, intellectual and knowledgable.
The question now remains if Minivan News will have the audacity to publish this.